


Heather

by Sprintjump



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Rescue Bots
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Divorce, F/M, Marriage, Moving On, Not all unseen mothers need to be dead, Unplanned Pregnancy, i dont why i wrote this but the story will be told, no editing we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24383170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sprintjump/pseuds/Sprintjump
Summary: Chase asks a question and Chief Burns answers what happened to the mother of his children.
Relationships: Charlie Burns/Charlie Burns's Wife
Kudos: 36





	Heather

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in 2017, mad that unseen mothers are assumed to be dead.

“Chief Burns?”

The older man looked up to where the Rescue Bot stood. It was the early morning after a night patrol and both officers of the law were taking some downtime.

“Yes, Chase?”

The Autobot paused for a second, as if worried. “Might I ask you something personal?”

Chief Burns raised an eyebrow but nodded.

“Might I ask what happened to the mother of your children?” Chase stood for a second, the continued, feeling the need to explain himself. “I know that these children have to have another parent after I did some of my first research on human reproduction and behavior. I assumed she was deceased, but your children never mention her at all which I find odd. No other person has ever mentioned their mother. Often I have heard other humans remark on your children’s resemblance to you, and I take that as confirmation that you did not adopt them.”

Chief Burns sipped his coffee. “What makes you ask this now?”

“Well,” Chase began, “When Kade announced his engagement to Haley I expected you to say words like ‘Your mother would have been so proud’ or something to that effect. I have seen it often on television where the carrier of the familial unit is deceased.”

The Chief took a sip of his coffee out of his mug and sighed. “She is not dead Chase.” He set down his coffee mug. “She is just not involved with our lives.”

The police bot tilted his head. Chief Burns noticed this and leaned back in his chair.

“We’re divorced, Chase. It happened when Cody was very young.”

“Oh,” the mech responded. “She does not have communication with your children?”

“Not directly,” the Chief answered. “I send her photos from time to time. I have told my kids that they can communicate with her at any time but my oldest three have declined that option. Cody doesn’t even know her.”

Chase fumbled. “I apologize if it was too personal a question.”

The Chief shook his head. “It’s fine. We aren’t exactly on the friendliest of terms, but I'm not bitter. It was your curiosity.”

Chase rubbed his servos nervously. “May I ask what happened?”

The elder Burns thought for a second, then nodded. “Please know that I tell you this in confidence.”

“Understood,” responded the Autobot.

“Well,” the Chief began, “her name was.. _is,_ excuse me, Heather. We met when we were very young. She was the only child of a poor family that pretty much the whole island didn’t approve of. She did not have good role models for parents and struggled a lot in school. I would never call it true love on first sight, yet I still kind of felt like she needed someone. Coming from someone high up on the social ladder of middle school popularity it seemed kind of odd to my peers.

“She was very quiet, so quiet people thought she was a mute or that she was…let’s call it _exceptional._ She wasn’t any of those things, but after what had happened to her over the years she had just retreated into herself. I tried for a very, very long time to befriend her. It took me months just to get a word out of her.”

Chase nodded, taking a cube of Energon and beginning to refuel.

“We became friends afterward, and I feel like having someone to open up to just changed something in her. She was _so_ intelligent Chase. It seemed out of nowhere she just decided to stop being closed off. As we moved on to high school, she became a straight-A student, very studious. The whole town still looked down her, however. By virtue of her last name was labeled no good by the older folks. As I started to spend more time with her, my parents made it a point to say she was not welcome and that I was to stop seeing her, but Heather was just _different_ from anyone else.

“I dated other girls in high school before her, but when the relationships ended, I always came back to her. I asked her to the Winter Formal in junior year and from then on, we dated.

“She wanted to be a big-time research scientist, and I’ll tell you I was a puppy dog at her feet singing her praises. She got into a very prestigious college on the mainland and was going to head off there. I was going to go straight to the police academy on the mainland.”

Chase sat, transfixed on the officer and the story. “And then what occurred?”

The Chief sighed. “I was eighteen, and she was seventeen when our class graduated. About three months before graduation we found out she was pregnant. Heather was terrified, I was scared. Her parents told her she was worthless dirt just like them and my parents almost kicked me out before school was over. We were young and terrified, and we made the rash decision to get married. We snuck off the island one night on my old boat and had a shotgun wedding with my brother as the witness and our impromptu photographer. It was quite an adventure and we were happy then.

“She went off to college, and I went off to the academy. She was allowed special housing requirements so were able to have our own home on the mainland. We worked and struggled, but I remember those days and they were good days. Kade was born happy and healthy. We didn’t really have the wild young adulthoods that people brag about, but we didn’t mind.

“Heather eventually got her degree, and I got a job out in Chicago. I saw rough things on those streets, but I always was able to make it home to her and Kade. She was interning and working at the same time. We started having problems but then we found out she was pregnant again. Things got better.”

“And then Dani was born,” Chase said.

The Chief sighed smiled. “Yeah, then there was Dani. She drove Heather and me up the walls.

“After my parents died, we moved back to Griffin Rock, and I started working there. Heather wasn't thrilled. The whole town never really cared for her and though she tried not to let it get to her, I knew it did. After more time there was Graham, and then we really started having problems. Money, life, anything you think of we argued over. It was a slow process, and I hated that Kade, Dani, and Graham had to see that happen to us. When she got pregnant with Cody, we saw it as a chance to mend our relationship. It didn’t. We just kept fighting and fighting, and one day she just up and left the house. She called me when she went into labor, and I met her at the hospital. Having Cody nearly killed her, so I brought him home long before she could. After that, we saw that our fighting wasn’t doing the kids any favors and divorced. The kids were always closer to me, and she agreed that I should have primary custody. I tried to get the kids to spend time with her, but they never put up with it.

“Heather lives in D.C. now and works for the government in pretty high up position. She was the person who suggested Griffin Rock as your home.”

Chase blinked. “Really?”

Chief Burns nodded. “Though I doubt you’ve ever met her. She’s content where she is now I think, though we both regret the children weren’t close to her, but she followed her dream and has her doctorate and pursued the life she didn’t have when she was a homemaker. Now the kids have me, and I have them. They can contact her at any time, they just don’t want to.”

Chase set down the empty cube. “That…does not seem ideal.”

“No,” Chief Burns said, “but it’s the situation we have. She has her on little family. New husband, she’s got a girl that’s a couple of years younger than Cody. Don’t know her name, never asked. Heather seems happy though. I’m happy she had something that worked out for her.”

Chief Burns and Chase sat in silence for awhile.

“Now I’ve moved on, and she has too.”


End file.
